This blog is the diary of a journey through the Sahara undertaken February-May 2007. The most recent post is first.

  

Land Rover for Sale

The adventure is over, and I'm back in Ireland, only three weeks later than originally planned. Sunday was the longest day's drive of all, 870km on the quiet motorways of Germany, Holland, Belgium and France. At Cherbourg the heavy duty springs finally got something to complain about - eight cases of wine and a couple of beer - and then it was onto the ferry for Rosslare and home.

Some numbers:


16 Countries - 98 Days - 14,823 Miles - 23,855 Km - Cheapest fuel €0.15 (Alg) - Dearest fuel €1.16 (Italy) - 1 Puncture - 3kg Lighter - 1455 Photographs - 50˚C (Agadez, Niger) - 5 days, longest stop (Agadez again)



My highlights were

• First encounter with real desert in Mauritania

• All of Mali - the baobabs, the music clubs of Bamako, and especially the Dogon region and the river trip to Niafounké

• The mountains and deserts in Southern Algeria

The most enjoyable aspect of the journey was the people, especially away from the tourist centres of Morocco and Tunisia. Not a day passed without an interesting encounter.

Travelling overland, it is striking how quickly you can move from the rich world to the poor. Taking the UN Human Development Index as a guide we moved from Ireland (4th highest) to Spain (19); then - just eight miles over the Gibraltar Strait - to Morocco (123), Mauritania (153), Mali (175) and Niger (177), the poorest country of all by UN rankings.

Yet, despite all the problems of climate, poor government, and the daily struggle for survival, these are safe and fascinating places to visit. Well organised tourism, such as we experienced in the Dogon and southern Algeria, is one way to make a direct contribution to their development, in my opinion.

Anyway, this is the last post, and a big Thank You to everyone who wrote to say you enjoyed reading and travelled in spirit, it was great to get your emails and comments. And appreciation to my co-drivers Stefanie, Jason and Con for sharing the journey.

 
Now, if you know anyone interested in buying a well-tested Land Rover, you know where to look!

The End

Toumani Diabate

Toumani Diabate is a Malian kora player, the 71st generation of a griot family. He and his "Symmetric Orchestra" played in Dublin twice last year, and he is really responsible for this Sahara journey. Speaking to him after a concert in Dublin, he told us about the March concerts to honour Ali Farka Toure, and set in motion the plan to visit Mali, which expanded into the whole roadtrip. 

One of the highlights was meeting Toumani at his club, Le Hogon, in Bamako. So, it was a nice bit of symmetry to find he was playing in Cologne this week, and Stefanie and I made it to the concert. It was in the Philharmonic Hall, and was filmed for German TV, so was a little more formal than the usual. It was funny to see rows of besuited men who I can only think were Philharmonic season ticket holders who were misled by the word "Orchestra" on the bill. Still, even they, with some encouragement, were on their feet by the end. He finished with the first playing of a solo piece from his next album, due this year some time. It was a wonderful finale to the evening and (almost) to the journey. I'll do another post from Ireland next week to wrap things up. For more information about Toumani, and a very nice short video, see World Circuit. 

Great Hostels of Italy

At the moment I am slowly travelling homeward via Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and France. The ferry is booked for Cherbourg-Rosslare and I'll be back in Ireland on May 14th. 

Italy has a great network of hostels housed in historic buildings, and May is a good quiet time to be visiting. I stuck to small towns and was the only guest in each of them. 

First stop was Cosenza (Calabria), a typical old southern town with narrow streets full of clothes lines. The hostel is a former palace in the old part of town, and people are friendly and interested, especially about the car. Maybe not too many right-hand drive cars make it this far south, but many times on the autostrade I see cars slow down to check the strange driving arrangement. 

After a fine drive on empty roads through the Apennines, I reached the Amalfi Coast. The tortuous sea road is getting ready for summer, the traffic managers with reflective jackets and two-way radios managing the tightest bottlenecks. I stayed at Agerola, a town high above the Gulf of Salerno, where the hostel is in the former stables of a ruined castle. It was built in the 19th century by an Italian who had been an administrator in British India; he came to bad end when his young wife poisoned him, and the castle was destroyed by the fascists in 1930. 

I had a brief stop at the ruins of Pompeii, then skirted Rome for the more relaxing Umbrian countryside and another little walled town, Amelia. This has escaped the tourism of nearby Tuscany but the hostel manager says the old town is struggling, as young families don't want to live with the problems of parking and steep stairs. She said it is starting to attract artists and some young people who commute to Rome. Part of the building is a former jail, and my room still has the original solid double doors. I parked in a little plaza (right) on top of ancient Roman cisterns. 

The area where Umbria meets Tuscany has endless picturesque hilltop walled towns such as Narni and Cortuna, and I picked a small one for an overnight, the little village of Scorfiano (below), close to Sinalunga.

The hostel manager recommended her friend's restaurant ("13 Gobbi") in another even more beautiful village nearby, Montefollonico. Fine local food - a thick Tuscan soup of beans and bread, roast duck with mushrooms served with fried pumpkin flowers stuffed with anchovies and mozzarella, panna cotta with wild berries; a big jug of Nobile, the local red, and a bottle of mineral water - all for €20.

Tuscan Sky

The north of Italy seemed crowded and dull compared to the South, and I stuck to the autostrade until diverting again to slow roads for the area around Lake Como and into Switzerland at Lugano. The Land Rover looks very alien amid all the shiny Porsche Cayennes and convertibles.

Over the St Gottard Pass (above) and onwards to Bern and the German border. No problems there, but French Customs was another matter. I'd gone over the Rhine to get a fill of diesel, as it is a bit cheaper there, and on the way back I got a long interrogation from four officers and the most detailed search of the whole trip. So much for the European single market, you'd think the Customs would be better off defending the external borders.

The Indispensables

Ten things I’m glad I had in the Sahara...

1. Anti-septic spray. Lived on the dashboard and used every day for hand-cleaning, cuts, grazes, bites.
2. 230 litres of fuel capacity in fuel tanks and jerries. Made it possible to cover the long distances between fuel sources in Algeria, and saved money too.
3. Water Tank. Great having 70 litres on board, enough for several days of camping and even an occasional shower.
4. Air compressor. With the weight of the car it was essential to let down the tyre pressures on sand, sometimes several times a day. And I’d hate to have to use a hand pump.
5. Fridge. After a day of heat and dust, nothing better than a cold beer.
6. Swarfega heavy duty wipes. Perfect for cleaning up after car repairs, and saved on water.
7. USB compatible radio. Allowed me to put over 100 albums on USB chips and they handled the bumps and dust without problems. So, never bored with the music, but can´t say the same for my co-drivers.
8. Postcards of Irish Farm Animals. North Africans know how to appreciate a fat cow or shaggy sheep.
9. Side Awning. Used just about every day, very quick to pull out for instant shade.
10. Percolator. No excuse not to have a decent coffee.

And ten things I carried but could have done without.

1. Winch. Never used it. Always quicker to use hands or shovel and mats if stuck in sand.
2. Solar powered battery charger. The idea is to recharge the main battery by solar power if both batteries fail. I can only imagine it being needed on a very remote piste with no other traffic, and I would never go on such a piste without a companion vehicle.
3. Firewood and fire lighters. It is recommended to bring firewood from home to avoid depleting local stocks. But we cooked on gas and rarely lit a fire until Algeria, where there seemed to be plenty of dead wood. And firelighters are not required when there is bone dry tinder at hand.
4. Siphon tube. For transferring fuel, used once only.
5. Tent. The free standing tent was never used. We had the roof tent, or slept out on the ground, sometimes with mosquito net.
6. Second spare tyre. Maybe we were lucky, but we had no punctures until the last week in the desert, and that was a slow puncture that lasted til town. The tyres were new and good quality (BFGoodrich) and I would have done with just one spare.
7. 12V inverter. Allows 220V plugs to work from car power system. Tried two, both failed quickly. Better to use 12V connectors for cameras and phones, and save the laptop for hotels.
8. Solar shower. This is black bag that absorbs sun heat. Used once only, afterwards much happier to have a cooling shower.
9. Side awning walls. These zip around the side awning to make a room with shelter from the wind, but only ever used them a couple of times.
10. Spare set of springs. The four springs were heavy and bulky, could have risked not taking them.

I can’t think of much that I should have had but didn’t. Spare clutch plate I suppose!

Sicily

I was pleased to find that there are ferries from Tunisia to Sicily, as it is a place I had wanted to see. The timing was good too, as with the May Day long weekend, Stefanie was able to fly down for a few days. The ferry was almost empty - just seven cars, and one of those was lucky to make it on board, as Tunisian Customs had the driver unpack everything on the ground. I don't know why they had a problem with him exporting 100 pairs of sneakers. Trapani is fine town for a return to Europe. I turned off the ferry ramp directly onto the street, parked and went exploring. While I like Africa, and really enjoyed the travelling there, the cuisine is not the world's finest, so arriving in Sicily is going to the other extreme, it is food heaven.

 

Moon Rise Over Palermo

A torrential downpour delayed Stefanie's flight and filled the streets of Palermo with water. On the first night we stayed at a B&B in Cinisi, close to the airport. The prices are a nice surprise - an excellent pizza at €5, coffee is 70c, cappuciono is €1 - why are we paying €2-3 in Ireland? The best luxury of all is the icecream, and it might be a Sicilian thing, but you can have it served in a brioche or sweet bun. Worth trying - once.

We spent the next couple of nights near the slopes of Mt Etna, which kindly provided a spectacular eruption one night - apparently there had been several already in April. We drove close enough to hear the explosions and could clearly see the flow of lava.

The Trikeles B&B in Giardini Naxos was very good, but hard to find, and the owner had to come and show us the way. €40 included a big breakfast buffet with fruit juices and cold meats. Unfortunately he was full the next night and we moved to the Hotel Astoria in the hilltop town of Taormina - old fashioned and well located, but with the grumpiest owner ever. We were constantly made to feel as if we'd run over their dog on arrival.

Into Tunisia

The Mediterranean coast of Algeria is to be avoided for security reasons, and the central deserts are not as dramatic as those of the South, comprising of difficult sand seas, or Ergs. So, like most foreign travellers on the route, we made for Tunisia, covering the remaining 600km to the border at Taleb Larbi in another long day.

Stuck one last time, rescued by a truck

Approaching the Tunisian border 

At El Oeud, a well populated series of oases, we tanked up to the maximum with 15c diesel. The next fuel (in Tunisia) would cost three times more (and then three times more again in Italy). Djafar guided us through the last couple of hours of officialdom, and pocketed his tip and present without looking at it. We said our goodbyes, we will miss his company after a very enjoyable couple of weeks.

Farewell to our Algerian Guide 

The officials at both borders only glanced at the car contents, I think they are a bit intimidated by the amount of gear and would not know where to start a search. The Tunisian Customs asked if we have any electronics - they have a thing about GPSs - and we said "No". Since every single overlander car has a GPS, they evidently find it less hassle to ask and then not to look. 

Culture shock in Tezeur, the centre of Tunisian Desert Tourism. A whole neighbourhood of hotels in the Zone Touristique, ATMs that actually accept our cards, gleaming convoys of tour group 4WDs. Con was here before and remembers a much quieter place.

We did not linger. On the road north we experienced the first sprinkling of rain since Morocco. We overnighted at the holy city of Kairouan in an old fashioned hotel. It is clear we are back on the tourist trail, tourist shop-keepers start with 1000% of the next offer price. 

The Dutch went to Tunis to apply for their visas for Libya, we went to the coastal resort of Hammamet. From the shops and hotels it is indistinguishable from Agadir or any of 100 places on the Mediterranean. It has a nice beach, deserted apart from a lonely camel and its owner. We stayed at the Citroniers, where Con had been many years ago. 

Two hours of professional cleaning transformed the car, with an impressive amount of the Sahara blasted out of the back by compressor. It also got another oil change, and some attention from an electrician and a tyre shop. We have our first puncture since leaving home, thanks to a 4" nail. The tyre man asked for 100 dinar (almost €60) for the repair, and after I stopped laughing he got 10d. 

The highlight of Hammamet was the "Cultural Evening" at the big resort across the street - a band in baggy pants, belly dancers, tourist dancers. The next highlight would be leaving, with an overnight ferry from Tunis to Trapani in Sicily.